1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for bi-directionally mining a manganese nodule, and more particularly, to an apparatus for bi-directionally mining a manganese nodule, capable of enhancing the collection efficiency of the manganese nodule by changing the operation of a collection device according to traveling directions
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a machine to mine a manganese nodule is placed on the bottom of a deep sea area in connection with a mother ship through a pipe riser to move while collecting the manganese nodule.
The mining machine includes a driving unit employing a caterpillar and a collecting unit installed in the driving unit to collect a manganese nodule existing on the seafloor.
The mining machine moves along the seafloor by the driving unit while forming predetermined ground pressure. In addition, the mining machine collects natural manganese nodules existing on the seafloor by the collecting unit.
There is a prior art registered with Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0795667. The prior art discloses a technology of increasing grounding pressure to more than a predetermined value when collecting nodules provided on a seafloor by a caterpillar vehicle divided into two tracks.
However, since the mining machine according to the prior art collects a manganese nodule by a collecting unit that is fixedly installed, the mining machine collects the manganese nodule by repeating forwarding-turning-forwarding operations. In particular, when the mining machine turns, the mining machine cannot collect the nodule. In addition, although the integrated system of a mother ship-pipe riser-mining machine must be accurately controlled, the accurate control of the integrated system may be rarely accomplished through existing technologies.